My Vietnam Launch – Nha Trang – 2018 Backpacking
In my last blog I mentioned I had done little research into my next journey locations. I was getting lazy & letting the universe provide the Vietnam for me to see & I knew very little of Nha Trang other than it was a bigger city than Quy Nhon. Basically, threw a dart on a map. In this blog you will see a high volume of photos so I hope you will enjoy these?
I had several messages sent to me the day before my departure by my next lodgings, iHome Hostel, stating my room is undergoing emergency repairs but would not tell me why. They were extremely sincere & apologetic so that was a good sign & promised to have my room ready in a few days if I could get another hotel room elsewhere as they were fully booked. Nothing like a last-minute challenge.
After a bit of sourcing, I managed a 1 bed studio from Summer Hotel in Nguyen Thien Thuat not far from ihome Hostel so with that sorted I was more relieved to catch the limo van at 2pm for a 4hr trip. Finally, I had managed to get a great driver & arrived in good shape & not to kiss the pavement like the Pope in Quy Nhon.
The Summer Hotel was a bit more upmarket at $24USD/ nite but it came with a fantastic brekky that you couldn’t afford to miss. My room was cosy with an ensuite however no window at all so I had to rely on the clock, not the sun or moon. Lol! I quickly unloaded my packs & ventured out to the hundreds of eating places. Nha Trang was instantly different to anything I had seen in Vietnam to date. There was another population type wandering the streets in volumes. I later learned at my eating place there were 4 languages on the menu. One was Vietnam, Chinese, Russian & to my relief, English.
Nha Trang used to be a Russian port and despite the port reverting back to Vietnam some years ago the Russian population remained and created their own citizenship network. I don’t believe they integrate that well on first observations.
I found it awkward walking the streets where I noticed the Russian women were ‘secretly’ smiling at me & when I acknowledged slightly back the Russian men/ partner would become quite terse in their look. Very possessive! I also found out the Russian men are not too pleasant to their female partners so I had better be more discreet in ‘smiling’ back as I would not stop when greeted warmly. During my whole stay at Nha Trang I never had the opportunity of speaking directly to any Russian, man or female so that says something, surely, however they were far better than the vile Chinese I came across at Sihanoukville in Cambodia.
My first outing was to walk to Long Son Pagoda (2.2klms West of the City Centre) in a very hot, humid day … but that is expected, so toughen up Princess. Upon arrival, the temple was closed (lunch & serenity hours I guessed) but climbed the 152 steps with the giant dragons on each side up to the Giant 24m high Supreme White Gautama Buddha on top of the hill which was the original site of the pagoda. The pagoda was erected in 1886 but was destroyed by a cyclone in 1900 & then rebuilt at its current safer lower elevation location. In 1940 the pagoda was renovated & expanded & in 1968 it was heavily damaged by the Vietnam War. Come 1971 the restoration started & was 60% completed when it was delayed due to the fall of Saigon & the Communist takeover.
From the pagoda there is a road leading up to Hai Duc Pagoda along the crest of the hill to the Gautama Buddha which was cast in concrete in 1964 & installed the following year. This day the Buddha was in brilliant display so you could possibly see that in the photo. Very impressive. Behind the Buddha are the wall cemeteries I called them. They are rows of inserted locker-type graves carrying the ashes & keep sakes of those passed. Many of these are in the same condition from the Vietnam War where they were damaged, looted/ vandalised, etc and no-one has come to do the cleanup for some reason.
With the time of day, I thought it best to walk back to the beach area for more temperate weather where I settled down on the course more-brown sand & started to do my usual people watch session. From that position I noticed a thatched roof bungalow further South, serving beer .. I have now found my 2nd home here. There was a mixture of people occupying the 4bar sides. Some were English, some were Australians off the cruise ship berthed a few kilometres away & looking for a relief (from pain in the a.ss cruise travellers …. Their words, not mine). Some were other nationalities like Greeks & Italians and suffice to say, it was a great ambience of banter & drinking at $1USD beer stubbie. Along this vast beachfront there are many options to savour. There are more bungalows, beach club resort buildings and dining areas stretched out along the sand and manicured gardens suiting all levels of social status. Btw, no-one is allowed to walk or lay on the grass areas as I quickly found out from a scorning, I received from a Vietnamese lady worker.
After this verbal tirade I decided to sit on the concrete kerbing along the beach sand & path adjacent to a large coconut palm when “thud”!! a coconut dropped, about 4ft from me & half buried into the sand. I think I was safer with the Vietnamese worker. LOL!! As the day falls into sunset the crowds come out like hidden nocturnals and swarm the streets. The surf road between the shops & the beach (Tran Phu) is in constant congestion and to cross over using the zebra pedestrian crossing is still a major challenge & a test of bravery. Not kidding!
One day out of the blue, an ‘Easy Rider’ (Mr Mihn) picked me out of the crowd & offered a scooter all day tour to the fishing village, waterfall and Po Nagar Cham Towers for 750K Dong ($42AUD) to the North of the city. With nothing else on the horizon, I trusted the universe again and secured the next day’s outing. Some 10klms out, the fishing village was very busy coming in with the night’s catch and the adjacent ice making factory was in full swing making the extremely large ingot blocks and also crushing some of these blocks into manageable esky-type cubes and shredding these down too.
Being the dry season, the waterfall (some 30klms from the city) wasn’t much from my point of view but I did like the 2.5klm challenge a few couldn’t do in scaling the enormous rock bed downstream of the waterfall & then finally cooling off in the rock pool and sitting under the small waterfall. Apparently, this is a major attraction to the city, but I take it is when the rainy season is in swing. The best part was when two young female teenagers sat on the rock edge & dangled their feet into the rock pool and simultaneously screamed like they saw something evil. The small guppy fish were nibbling on their legs. I think every animal & bird then took cover.
Heading back into the city we stopped off at the 8th Century Po Nagar Towers on the northern outskirts of the city. This restored tourist attraction certainly engages the crowds. It was at times quite congested and to take a good photo was like winning the lottery. It was great to see photos of when it was rediscovered in dense jungle growth & the amount of clearing and restoration that had taken place over decades so us tourists can get to see such magnificent sculptures. These temples were pre-Angkor Wat so it shows how early their construction was. The temples were amazing in their structure detail & accuracy and handling the test of time.
Mr Mihn dropped me off near my beer bungalow so that was a welcome relief. Here, I met more strangers and soon-to-be daily catchup drinkers. One of these strangers (Australian) encouraged me to visit a sports bar (Cheers Sports Bar) that night, not far from my new abode (iHome Hostel – private room $20USD/ night) to watch the World Cup soccer game scheduled. Here, we had a great time & met more of his friends that were travelling in a families’ group. We got on so well they invited me to join them for dinner the following night at a pizza restaurant nearby which was amazing and the very best pizza I’ve ever had. Sadly, Good Morning Vietnam restaurant is no longer there. From this night I found out with the 3 groups of family friends they were there to celebrate one of the couples renewed marriage vows on the beach just up from my beach bungalow the next afternoon. The ‘bride’ was saying how much they have put into this event using their resort’s events manager but forgot to have the music they had when originally walking down the sand aisle on this very same beach several years earlier. She so wanted Nat King Cole’s “When I Fall in Love” song. I told her, “no problem”, I’ll have it for her. She was so thrilled but you could see the hesitation & not fully believing that would happen.
The next day, I found the resort setting up the chapel type arch of flowers, seating, etc so I sat onto the raised concrete sand kerb and waited. The guests showed up in all their finery and it was full on!! They certainly catered for a great renewing vows wedding. From behind me the bride appeared out of nowhere, so here I am quickly scrambling with my phone & external sound speaker & getting the song just in time. The bride seemed to falter at that moment but all went well for the ceremony. Immediately after, the wedding group disappeared into the adjacent upmarket Beach Club for the reception. Not having the chance to catch their attention & offer my congratulations I returned to the bungalow for my receptive beer or two.
The next day, I bumped into one of the husbands journeying to the bungalow for a departure drink. He was thrilled he had caught up with me and to thank me for the sound of song the day prior. Apparently, a few came out after the wedding looking for me to celebrate with them but could not find me. The bride said she was overwhelmed & so thankful that I had arranged that song for her & her knees buckled when she had heard the song played & started to tear up, so I thought that was pretty cool & worth the effort. Sadly, with all the full-on interaction over the few days, I never got any contact details of the families other than they came from Melbourne.
Back at iHome Hostel, I remained the eldest staying there so all of the backpackers stayed clear of me until a young couple ventured to my table. They were travelling solo until they met each other a week or so ago & now they are travelling the entire Vietnam heading North on separate scooters. Amazing story & they were thrilled I could tell them things I had seen heading their direction. Also, from my unit I was awaken everyday at 6am from construction noise across the laneway. The workers were most pleasant and I was greeted by smiles every morning. We were so close we could almost throw a handshake out there. They worked a full 12hour shift, 6 days a week so I don’t know how they managed that.
The next day, I decided to see what was down the South beachside of the city. After walking 3klms down towards the old port (Govt security area) & seeing nothing of any value I turned around just as a severe thunderstorm rattled in. Within minutes the main roadway was flooding quickly, yet the drivers never slowed down and it wasn’t long before I was showered in spouts from their vehicles when gaining cover. By the time the storm was over & I returned the 3klms to my bungalow I was completely dry, such was the heat of the day.
The next day I caught up with my family back in Australia through Zoom & later walked the 3.1klm beachfront heading North towards the Po Nagar Towers. There was more to see than the Southside, that’s for sure. The Happy Beach was a great beach view & very unusual & a little later saw the towers in the background looking West. Took some building photos such as the Tram Huong Tower – Lotus Flower petals building that symbolises the treasured Vietnamese lily flower. This is the main business district.
Nah Trang is just a big city that provides all that a big city offers, luxury too, shopping of all types, cruise terminals & the latest tourist attraction is Vinpearl where it is a small Disney-type amusement centre on a close-by island opposite the cruise terminal & linked by a giant chairlift as well on the island of Vinh Nguyen & is of a massive scale. It looks great at night with its lights from our bungalow. This Vinpearl was definitely not for me so I can’t add anything to it other than it caters for certain volume of city tourists wanting upmarket resort accommodation, supreme golf course, etc & it reeks of Chinese development. On another close island, Hon Mieu there is the Thuy Cung Aquarium & more luxury resorts.
I am a Wyndham Resorts ‘owner’ (timeshare) & I noticed they are proposing a major resort construction near the business area along the beachfront so I might keep an eye on this opening in the hope I can return to this city. Fingers crossed. Now it’s time to say good-bye to this big city.
I’ll end this blog here, so stay safe, happy & hopefully enjoy the photos and kick this ongoing COVID-19 & the more-vile vaccines back into history. Stay tuned for my next blog on my travels at Dalat. A point to note; is that I’m continuing a new self-development journey by reading my 2nd book of Eckhart Tolle .. A New Earth. Everyone must read this book. Truly remarkable. My life summary as written by Neil Diamond “Did you ever read about a frog who dreamed of bein’ a king and then became one, well except for the names and a few other changes, if you talk about me, the story is the same one”.
“I’m not a man that likes to swear; but I’ve never cared for the sound of being alone”.
Communication … Communication … Talk to each other.
Thank you again for reading my blogs and I trust you will stay safe, happy & healthy for 2022 and for it to be a far better year for all. I do not receive any commissions &/or ‘perks’ from the above nominated businesses & locations as I am purely happy to provide the acknowledgement and connection.
I always look forward to seeing the feedback so don’t be afraid to comment. My next blog/s will be more of the amazing Vietnam experiences and quite a few were life changing, & not just for me.
Live life to the most and a quote that I truly love is from Eckhart Tolle ..
“If I am not the hero of my life … who in the hell could be?”
BH Life Travels 